Pregnancy-Information.Pdf
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Pregnancy Information Working in partnership with you Page Section 3 What we offer - Maternity Services in Shropshire 9 Neonatal Services 10 Your pregnancy at a glance 11 Antenatal care 13 Keeping you and your baby healthy 16 Keeping you and your baby safe 21 Minor problems of pregnancy 23 Infections in pregnancy 26 Ultrasound screening 28 Pregnancy complications 32 Feeding and nurturing your baby 33 Information for partners 34 Getting ready for birth 36 Signs of labour 37 Induction of labour 39 Labour and birth 43 Pain relief 47 Assisted birth (operative vaginal delivery) 49 Caesarean section 53 Vitamin K 56 Rights and benefits 56 Trust Privacy Notice 59 Useful organisations 2 Pregnancy Information What we offer - Maternity Services in Shropshire Congratulations on your pregnancy! Every year around 5000 women give birth in Shropshire. We offer a caring and safe service, with a choice of where to have your care and where to have your baby. We have Community Midwives at Centres all around the county, at Shrewsbury, Telford, Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Oswestry, Whitchurch and Market Drayton. All of these Centres offer antenatal and postnatal care. If you have a straightforward pregnancy you can have your baby in a Midwife Led Unit (at Shrewsbury, Telford, Bridgnorth, Ludlow or Oswestry). You also have the choice of giving birth at home, or in the Consultant Led Unit at the Shropshire Women and Children’s Centre at the Princess Royal Hospital at Telford, although this Unit is primarily for women with more complicated pregnancies. For more information on these options please read the information below. Our Midwife-led Units (MLUs) Having a baby is one of the most important events in your Bridgnorth Midwife Led Unit life. The five Shropshire Midwife Led Units (MLUs) are able Tel:01746 711060 to offer you a place where you can feel comfortable, relaxed, confident and secure. You can contact the midwives at your local unit for advice and support during your pregnancy, when your labour is starting, and after you have your baby. It is also convenient for your friends and family to visit you when you’ve had your baby. Four of our MLUs are freestanding, which means they are on a separate site from the nearest main hospital. Wrekin MLU is on the same site (Princess Royal Hospital, Telford) as the Consultant Led Delivery Suite. In MLUs experienced midwives take responsibility for your care during labour and support you to have a normal birth. The Birthplace Study published in 2011 found that a planned Bridgnorth is a stand-alone MLU in Bridgnorth birth in an MLU was just as safe as having a baby in an obstetric Hospital. There is a birthing suite with a pool and a (doctor led) unit. This was true for women having a first baby second birthing room. There are birthing balls, bean as well as for those who had had a baby before. bags and mats available to help women stay active and comfortable in labour. Women who give birth on an MLU have less intervention After birth you can stay in one of the two postnatal in their labour and tend to report greater satisfaction with their birth. rooms, each with two beds and a TV, when staff can support you in feeding and caring for your baby. Pregnancy Information 3 Ludlow Midwife Led Unit Oswestry Midwife Led Unit Tel: 01584 871120 Tel: 01691 404579 Ludlow is a stand-alone MLU at Ludlow Community The stand alone Oswestry MLU at the Robert Jones and Hospital. There is a relaxed, friendly and homely Agnes Hunt Hospital, has two calm and relaxing birthing atmosphere at this Unit. The staff aim to help you rooms, one with a large birthing pool. Postnatal care is and your family experience the best possible start to in a 6 bedded area where you can forge friendships in a parenting. caring environment. Shrewsbury Midwife Led UnitWrekin Midwife Led Unit Tel: 01743 261216 Tel: 01952 641222 ext. 5706 The Shrewsbury MLU is a stand alone unit in the Wrekin MLU is at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford Copthorne Building at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. on the same site as the Consultant Led Unit. There are The unit has recently been refurbished, with a new birth four homely birthing rooms, one with a water pool. pool. CD players, birth balls, bean bag and mats are After the birth staff will help you with the transition available, as active birthing is encouraged. into motherhood in a quiet and friendly environment. After birth you will stay in a four-bedded bay, or a single Many women who have a straightforward birth on the room may be available if you prefer. Staff will support you Consultant Led Delivery Suite transfer here for their in feeding and caring for your baby. postnatal care. If you have a low risk pregnancy, you can have your Market Drayton and Whitchurch Midwives at these community hospitals offer antenatal baby at any of our MLUs, even if it is not the one nearest to where you live. Please phone the MLU and postnatal care and a homebirth service. Tel: 01630 650727 (Market Drayton) direct if you would like to go and see the unit. You can also come to any of our MLUs to have your Tel: 01948 660838 (Whitchurch) baby if you live outside Shropshire. Please note that in times of very high activity we may Home birth service For women with a straightforward pregnancy with no need to implement our escalation policy to ensure the safety of women and babies. complications anticipated during the birth, there is the option of having a homebirth. Midwives are on call for This can mean that you are not able to give birth in the you once you reach 37 weeks of pregnancy. A midwife unit of your choice, either because the unit is closed will support you at home during your labour and a altogether or because staff have had to be redeployed second midwife will join you for the birth of your baby. to cover other areas. You can have all forms of pain relief (including gas and air and pethidine) at home except for an epidural. You can If you are low risk, we can still offer you low risk care also buy or hire a water pool for a water birth at home. in our other units that remain open. It is likely that you will be able to transfer back to your unit of choice for Now read our leaflet: ‘Deciding where to have my baby’ so that postnatal care once the period of high activity is over. you can understand all the risks and benefits of the different At times when the escalation policy is implemented, options for place of birth and decide the best option for you. we may have to ask women planning a home birth to attend one of our units instead, so that staff can be redeployed for the safety of the service. 4 Pregnancy Information Our Consultant-led Unit The Consultant Led Unit includes the Antenatal Ward, The delivery suite has 13 en suite delivery rooms, one the Delivery Suite and the Postnatal Ward. of which has a birthing pool. There are two dedicated obstetric operating theatres with an adjacent recovery The Antenatal Ward area. Those with mobility problems can use the assisted This ward offers inpatient antenatal care to women with bath/shower room. medical and obstetric problems such as raised blood pressure or a low lying placenta.